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The Rewatchables ·

The Silence of the Lambs

year 1991decade 90sdirector Jonathan Demmegenre Thrillergenre Horrorgenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryan
All 12 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 18:28

Lecter attacks the two guards

The nominees read out are Clarice's first meeting with Lecter where Miggs ('Biggs' as transcribed) is introduced, Lecter taking out the two officers who brought him dinner without checking his handcuffs, the ambulance escape, the put-the-lotion-in-the-basket scene, and Clarice dropping in on James Gumm (as transcribed).

The pick is Lecter attacking the two guards with opera playing; the other host concurs and calls it haunting.

The film

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Directed by Jonathan Demme · Thriller / Horror

118 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Jodie Foster Clarice Starling
Anthony Hopkins Dr. Hannibal Lecter
Scott Glenn Jack Crawford
Ted Levine Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb
Anthony Heald Dr. Frederick Chilton
Brooke Smith Catherine Martin
Diane Baker U.S. Senator Ruth Martin
Kasi Lemmons Ardelia Mapp
Charles Napier Lt. Bill Boyle

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

14:05

Casting What-Ifs

Gene Hackman co-owned the rights and planned to direct and possibly play Jack Crawford before backing out; Sean Conne...

Gene Hackman co-owned the rights and planned to direct and possibly play Jack Crawford before backing out; Sean Connery and Jeremy Irons turned down Lecter; Ed Harris turned down Crawford because he wanted Lecter; Michelle Pfeiffer, the first choice for Clarice, and Meg Ryan turned it down; Redford, Hoffman and Robert Duvall are mentioned as Lecter possibilities

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:05Read transcript
  • The book rights were originally bought 50-50 by Mike Medavoy at Orion and Gene Hackman, who was going to direct and maybe star or just play Jack Crawford; one host says Hackman still should have played Crawford, though Scott Glenn is amazing.
  • Ted Talley (as transcribed) was hired to write what is called one of the great screenplays of the last 30 or 40 years; after the controversial Mississippi Burning, Hackman's daughter told him the film was too violent, he backed out, Orion paid him back his half and brought on Jonathan Demme, who began looking for a Lecter.
  • Sean Connery reportedly refused outright, calling the role grotesque, and Jeremy Irons would not do it either, possibly because he did not want to play two villains in a row after Reversal of Fortune; the hosts try Connery's voice on the fava beans line and conclude it would not work.
  • Ed Harris turned down Jack Crawford because he wanted Lecter, which is jokingly called a heat check and a little Dion Waiters of him.
  • Michelle Pfeiffer, first choice for Clarice, turned it down as too violent after working with Demme on Married to the Mob, and one host thinks that would have been really cool; Meg Ryan also passed at a time she was offered everything, which led to her casting in The Doors.
  • With Gene Hackman as Lecter the film could have gone badly wrong, the hosts say, and it would now be stuck on a minor cable channel at two in the morning.
  • Later, during research, the hosts are happy with Scott Glenn as Crawford over Tommy Lee Jones, cannot see Jones as Lecter, are glad Lecter was not Redford, Hoffman or Robert Duvall, and wonder whether Daniel Day Lewis was too early for it.
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33:36

Half-Assed Internet Research

Hopkins mocked Foster's Southern accent in their first scene; James Gumm combines Ed Gein, Ted Bundy and Gary Hednick...

Hopkins mocked Foster's Southern accent in their first scene; James Gumm combines Ed Gein, Ted Bundy and Gary Hednick (as transcribed); Gene Siskel gave the film a negative review; Brooke Smith gained 25 pounds for Catherine Martin; Goodbye Horses replaced a Bob Seger song and Ted Levine insisted on the dance; Levine and Scott Glenn did extensive research; the story was inspired by Robert Keppel and Ted Bundy; William Goldman got Demme to cut a 12-minute Crawford-Clarice sequence

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:36Read transcript
  • According to Jodie Foster, Hopkins improvised mocking her Southern accent during their first meeting, so her horrified reaction is genuine; the hosts love when good actors unsettle their scene partners, and the accent is called not great and one of several problems with her performance.
  • James Gumm ('Jame Gum' variously as transcribed) combines three real killers: Ed Gein, who skinned victims, Ted Bundy, who escaped and killed again, and Gary Hednick (as transcribed), who kept captives in a basement pit.
  • Gene Siskel gave the film a negative review, and one host calls Siskel the movie equivalent of the host's perpetual disagreements with Greenwald.
  • Brooke Smith, who played Catherine Martin, gained 25 pounds for her first major role, and the hosts wonder whether she deserved a supporting actress nomination.
  • The dance song Goodbye Horses by Q Lazarus was originally supposed to be a Bob Seger song, which one host is glad it was not; the hosts joke about how men their age would react if it came on in a bar.
  • Ted Levine insisted the dance scene be in the film, and the screenwriter did not know it would be until he saw it; it was improvised, Levine needed two drinks first, and he researched by visiting trans bars and talking to people.
  • Scott Glenn researched child murder cases and worked with the real-life model for Crawford, with tempestuous political arguments because Glenn opposed capital punishment; a host jokes that Glenn then murdered him.
  • The story was inspired by the relationship between University of Washington criminology professor and profiler Robert Keppel and Ted Bundy, which is how the Green River killer was caught.
  • The second host's research, from a Deadline oral history: after an LA screening, William Goldman told Demme to cut a filmed 12-minute sequence in which the attorney general chews out Crawford and Clarice, kicks her out of the academy and takes him off the case; Demme and the editor resisted, cut it anyway, and the film became a tight hour and 54 minutes.
  • Goldman is also credited with telling the Good Will Hunting writers to drop the second half where Will becomes a spy; the host found the Goldman story the most interesting, the Hackman material having been covered.
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50:47

Picking Nits

Crawford's plan to send an inexperienced Clarice to Lecter; Clarice entering Gumm's basement alone; the two guards wh...

Crawford's plan to send an inexperienced Clarice to Lecter; Clarice entering Gumm's basement alone; the two guards who had one job; the senator's deal with Lecter; nobody noticing Lecter in the guard's face; the hard-to-follow Gumm identity trail; decoding the self-storage clue; Miggs swallowing his own tongue

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:47Read transcript
  • A self-described hot take that Jack Crawford was a bad boss, sending the inexperienced Clarice into the dungeon unprotected; the response is that it was a win-win and Lecter was hostile to Crawford, countered by asking why not send an experienced woman agent; the film never mentions Will Graham, perhaps because of the character rights.
  • After the FBI storms an empty house, Clarice walks into Gumm's basement instead of calling for help; the objection that she would have had to drive to a pay phone without cell phones leads the host to rescind the nit.
  • The senator promising Lecter perks such as Hyannis Port or a week on Plum Island in exchange for help finding the senator's abducted child would dominate the news for weeks today, and after careful procedures for Clarice's visits the authorities are loosey-goosey with Lecter once he is moved; the two guards who brought a second meal and left the door open are the definition of having one job.
  • Lecter wearing a guard's face and uniform should have been noticed, given the blood and a guard who was a little skinnier, though perhaps the guard was expected to have massive facial injuries.
  • The James Gumm identity trail after Lecter throws out one name is hard to follow, and Clarice decoding the 'look within yourself' clue as Yourself self-storage in Baltimore, in the Hester Moffat (as transcribed) storage-unit scene, is called a leap.
  • You cannot swallow your own tongue to death; one host researched it and says Miggs would have had to bite it off and choke, with what Lecter told him deferred to unanswerable questions; the hosts note that Lecter, who eats people, was offended by Miggs's crude act, likened to a baseball manager fine with a fastball at a batter's head but not a bat flip.
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58:10

Probably Unanswerable Questions

What did Lecter say to make Miggs kill himself?; Is it okay to root for Hannibal Lecter?; Did Catherine Martin keep P...

What did Lecter say to make Miggs kill himself?; Is it okay to root for Hannibal Lecter?; Did Catherine Martin keep Precious?; Would you watch a 1997 Buffalo Bill prequel with Ted Levine?; Should Jodie Foster have done the Hannibal sequel?; Was Jodie Foster good in this movie?

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:10Read transcript
  • Is it okay to root for Lecter: he is one of the five worst people the hosts have rooted for, they cheer when he attacks Charles Napier's character, Clarice tells her FBI roommate he would not come after her because he would find it rude, and he seems to attack only people he has a grudge against.
  • Did Catherine Martin keep Precious: she carries the dog out at the end after the bone-and-bucket Hail Mary, and the host thinks she kept it.
  • Would they watch a Buffalo Bill prequel with Ted Levine in 1997: yes, though the investigation of serial killers interests one host more than their origins; should Foster have done the Hannibal sequel: no, she knew to leave well enough alone.
  • Was Foster good: one host thinks she is great; the other, since learning Michelle Pfeiffer had turned the role down, watches imagining Pfeiffer, would be more scared and more convinced, and thinks Pfeiffer the better actress, perhaps a year or two old for it.
  • The rebuttal is that Clarice's background as a rural West Virginia sheriff's daughter fits Foster, while Pfeiffer seems like a Tequila Sunrise, Fabulous Baker Boys person; the accent is still judged not good enough, with the claim that Hopkins knew it, and the advice is never to do an accent unless you are Daniel Day Lewis.
  • The Pfeiffer backer, calling her a favorite actress, adds that Castaway would be better with her in the Helen Hunt part and admits to simply not being a big Jodie Foster fan; another voice asked for an opinion praises her rookie vulnerability, Julia Roberts is rejected as too much of a megastar against Foster's diminutive presence, and there were few great actress options at the time.
  • Earlier, during the nits, what Lecter told Miggs over six hours to make him kill himself was parked for this segment.
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